On Aug. 26, 2025, Montgomery County Public Schools implemented a phone policy for elementary, middle, and high schools in the county, expanding the restrictions on phone use in schools. Rockville High School was a pilot school for this policy, applying some of the limits such as the pouches in the 2024-2025 school year.
“There wasn’t a consistent policy across schools, and so the board of education, with a lot of parents’ organizations, hoped that putting a phone policy in place would minimize the number of cyberbullying incidents,” Principal Rhoshanda Pyles said.
The current policy is as follows: If a student has a mobile device out during instructional time, teachers require them to put it in a pouch. If a student refuses, teachers may call security to take the device.
However, students believe that the policy’s only impact is determining which teachers enforce it and which do not.
“Most of the teachers that usually care a lot have, like, now begun to care even more, and, like, the chill teachers, like, are just the same,” junior Adriano Quispe said.
The phone policy varies at each level of the district, with middle and elementary schools permitting device use only before and after school. High schools allow phone use during lunch and between classes, creating a consistent policy in the county.
“We had one policy where we just had some expectations of students, but when there’s a county-wide policy put in place, then everyone can be consistent,” Pyles said.
The policy has also streamlined the process for administering punishments to students, allowing teachers to remove disturbances from classrooms more quickly, according to physics teacher Jason Neal.
“There was a very involved process of telling a student to put their phone away and then, you know, repeating that warning,” Neal said. “If we did have to pouch the phone, it involved filling out a form online and contacting the office. It was just very involved and some teachers, including myself, just didn’t have the time.”
Shortly after the first quarter’s interim period, Neal said, behavior is improving.
“They are more willing to put their phones away when warned,” Neal said.
